The Walking Dead Game What Ifs Chapter 27: What if Clementine's Mother survived?, a walking dead fanfic

Surviving Parent

What if Clementine's Mother survived? Prompt Submitted by Worker72 on AO3

Requests On Hold

Diana groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Vernon was rambling about leaving before Crawford found them, Brie was agreeing with him, Boyd was arguing that they should continue to lie low and look for more medicine and Joyce and Clive were keeping quiet. She'd stepped out of the room to stop her headache from growing worse, only to find a man stumbling though the entrance hole to the shelter.

Diana stared at the man, who gaped at her. The man continued to stare at her, before she realised who it was, "Lee Everett."

The man, Lee, blinked, "How'd you—"

"I kept up with your trial." Said Diana, cutting to the chase, "You're not the type of person Crawford would keep around."

"I've only just heard of them." Said Lee, looking at her, "You know anyone there?"

Diana let out a scoff, "Who would I want to know? My husband was bit when everything went to shit and—" Her voice cracked, making her clear her throat, "and what other family I had are dead."

Lee stared at her for a moment, before speaking, "Clementine."

Diana froze, before pulling her gun out, "Why did you say that?"

"You have a daughter, and her name was Clementine, right?" Asked Lee, slowly walking forward.

Diana's heart stopped, "Y-you said 'have'."

"Clementine's alive." Said Lee, "I, er, stumbled across her, after a road accident."

Diana frowned, "What happened?"

Lee looked at the gun, "Could you… lower the gun first?"

Quickly disarming the gun and putting it away, Diana looked at Lee expectantly, "Well?"

Then Vernon opened the door and found Diana and Lee, "W-what?"

"He's not from Crawford." Dismissed Diana, "None of them knew my daughter."

Vernon looked at them, before stepping back out of the room. Sighing, Diana looked back at Lee.

"The police car I was in crashed, I barely managed to get away from the Walkers chasing me when I climbed over your fence. I went into your house, looking for help and, well, met Clem." Explained Lee, "She managed to save me from the babysitter. She was bit at some point."

"But," Diana swallowed, "but Clementine's alive?"

"Yeah," Nodded Lee, "I can take you to her, if I can find my way out of here."

Diana nodded, "Give me a moment."

After introducing Lee to the others, and Lee mentioned that one of his people had an injured leg. Eventually, Lee was being led out of the sewers by Diana and Vernon. Lee filled Diana in, telling her everything that happened in the past few months. How he and Clementine met, how he took care of her as best as he could, he told Diana about the cannibals and that they stole from an abandoned car and that they'd been forced to leave it all behind after someone started giving some to a group of bandits, how a boy got bit, and one member of the group killed another member. The boy started to turn, and the boy's mother committed suicide, leaving Lee to put the boy down.

Diana didn't know what to think about Clementine being taught how to use a gun, but then she learned about some stranger talking to Clementine. Following Lee, they entered the house, Diana saw a drunk man with a moustache in a trucker's hat, a teenager and a tall woman coming down the stairs.

"Lee!" Gasped the woman, "You're alive!"

"Yeah," Nodded Lee, "Christa, where's Clementine?"

"No idea." Shrugged Christa, "She's done her vanishing act again."

Diana sighed before looking at Lee, "So, where's this injured man?"

"Upstairs, Christa can take you." Said Lee, making Vernon follow Christa, "I'll go look for Clementine."

"How much of this house has she explored?" Asked Diana, not moving.

"All of it." Answered Lee, before frowning, "Well, except for that shed outside."

Nodding, Diana turned around and walked outside, with Lee following her. Coming to a stop outside the shed, Diana took a deep breath and spoke, "Clementine?"

There was a beat of silence, before Diana got a shaky response, "Mom?"

Hearing Clementine's voice, Diana choked. Lee started removing the vines covering the doors, before opening them. Clementine stared up at her mother, before rushing forwards and hugging her, "I knew you and Dad were alive."

Diana bit her lip, before kneeling down so she could look Clementine in the face, "Sweetie, your… he… Daddy didn't make it."

Clementine stared at Diana, before burying her face in her mother's chest.

Diana stayed at the house with Lee's group, spending time with her daughter. Vernon had gone back to the bunker, currently, Lee's group was discussing about going to Crawford for the medicine and the things that the drunk, foul mouthed one needed to fix the boat Clementine had found. Her eyes then fell onto the radio, she picked it up, Diana pressed the broadcast button, "Hello?"

Clementine looked up from the drawing that she was doing, as her mother frowned at the radio.

"Hello?" Repeated Diana, before scowling, "I'm talking to the pervert trying to manipulate my daughter."

Diana glanced at the door as Lee walked through it, before turning her attention went back to the radio.

"Okay, I'm going to take your silence as confirmation that you're a paedophile," Said Diana, "I don't know why you decided to screw yourself over and, frankly, I don't give a fuck. If you contact her or are even near her again, I'll blow your fucking brains out."

Releasing the broadcast button, Diana looked at Lee, "So, what's the plan?"

"We're gonna take some guys to Crawford," Said Lee, "get the stuff Kenny needs to fix that boat and the medicine Omid needs."

Diana frowned, before nodding, "I'll stay here and watch over him."

"Can I come?" Asked Clementine, looking up at Lee and her mother.

"What?" Frowned Lee, looking down at Clementine, with Diana doing the same.

"Can I come to Crawford?" Asked Clementine, "I wanna help."

Lee glanced at Diana, who, after a few moments of thought, nodded, "It'd make sense for all hands to be on deck, even if they are small."

Clementine beamed up at them.

The group had been gone for a little while; Diana had dispatched of a Walker that'd gotten in. Omid was asleep, leaving the house in an eerie silence. Sighing, Diana located a book in the house's library and started reading it. Then she heard the front door open, she didn't hear anyone else, so it was unlikely that it was the others returning from Crawford. Grabbing her gun, Diana snuck up to the door.

After a moment, a man slowly walked into the library. Diana didn't recognise him, only raising her gun to the back of his head and pulling the trigger. The corpse fell to the ground, like a marionette that had its strings cut. Diana stared at the body, before going through it's pockets and finding some keys in one pocket and a radio on his belt. Sighing, Diana shifted the body outside and locked the doors, before she went back to the book she found.

Kenny fixed the boat after they got back. Brie and Ben were dead, Diana found that Ben was the one making the deal with the bandits back in Macon. Diana showed Lee the Stranger's car, which he confirmed to be the car they robbed form.

Then, they had another problem; who would go with Kenny. Kenny offered them a place on the boat, which Diana declined, and Clementine chose to be with her mother. Diana made sure to tell Lee that he was welcome to come with them if he wanted. In the end, Kenny would be taking Molly, Christa and Omid with him.

Bidding tearful goodbyes, and promises to always look out for them, the two groups parted ways. Lee, Diana and Clementine took the strangers car, helping Kenny take the boat to the water, with their final goodbyes. Lee drove through the streets of Savannah, before turning onto the interstate, the small group heading out of Savannah. None of them knew where they'd be going, but they'd decided to let the winds guide them.